Lisa Wakes
by gracefultree
Summary: The third installment in my Wakes-verse, it follows along with 'Ianto Wakes' and 'Jack Wakes' and offers some insight into what else goes on.
1. Chapter 1

**Lisa Wakes **

**by Gracefultree**

A/N: Welcome to the third installment in my "Wakes"-verse. It begins before 'Ianto Wakes' and 'Jack Wakes,' but it will take us through a part of 'Jack Wakes' that will answer some very important questions. Also, this first chapter is in a slightly different style than the ones that follow. I was experimenting a little with this one.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think.

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_Pain. All she knows is pain. Pain and burning and molten lava filling her veins. _

_She screams. _

_More pain. Her flesh ripped. Her bones broken. Her limbs replaced by cold metal. _

_Loneliness. She is alone. No one can save her. No one can help her. No one can understand her. _

_All she knows is pain. She becomes a connoisseur. A connoisseur of pain. _

_Pain in her head. Pain in her chest. Pain in her arms and legs and hand and feet. Pain in her heart. _

_She opens her eyes. Fire. Death. Screaming that is not her own. Screaming that is hers and hers alone. _

_Above her, the sounds of her boyfriend sobbing. He is crying for her, for him, for all they have lost. He begs her to hold on, to stay alive. He can't live without her, he says. Why does it take this much pain for him to say it? Why has he never said it before? _

_He is carrying her, dragging her along corridors of fire and death. She is heavy, heavier than she has ever been. Metal encases most of her body, and it creates pain. Her foot bumps against a door frame and she screams. _

_All she knows is pain. Pain and the soothing touch of his tears of her cheeks. _

_Darkness encroaches. Her vision dims. _

_Please hold on, Lisa, he begs. _

_Lisa? _

_Her name. She is Lisa. Lisa Hallett. _

_But who is he? _

_Ianto. Ianto Jones. Her boyfriend. He's going to ask her to marry him soon. She snooped in his nightstand and saw the ring, and has been waiting ever since for the question. _

_Data streams into her brain, bringing a new kind of pain. Humans were not meant to have cybernetic implants in their brains. But she is Human.2! She will adapt and survive. She will rebuild the army and conquer the planet that has caused so much trouble for her race. _

_Ianto brings her to a stolen truck. He locks her inside while he searches for materials. She has given him a list. He will help her. He will rebuild her, and thus be the first to be upgraded to the new society. It will be an honor for him. He will be by her side forever. _

_Pain. The truck ride is bumpy, each jolt of the poorly-aligned shocks sending bolts of pain throughout her body. She tries to keep from screaming. She knows that he is running, taking her to a safer place. No one will look for them there. _

_The data stream tells her that all of her kind have been sucked back into the Void or killed. Ianto is one of 27 known survivors of the disaster. She, herself, is listed as missing and presumed dead. _

_How little they know. _

_Even with the pain, she knows they will suffer for letting her life. She will destroy them all. _

_But then the pain becomes too much and she faints. _

_She wakes to more pain. To the smell of mold and the sound of an empty warehouse sitting in the rain. One of the windows is open, leaking in water. Ianto has built the unit she requires to stay alive. He has put her in it and given her medicine that dull the pain to a soft roar. It is not enough to make it go away entirely. _

_He has to go to London, get some clothes. He means to get a job, one that will give him the resources to "make her better." She does not tell him that this means completing her conversion. She knows, even through the pain, that he would disapprove of that plan. _

_He returns, gives her more medication. _

_How will he get the job? she asks. No one would hire him, knowing that he worked for Torchwood. He is hoping to work for Torchwood again, a different branch. She searches the database, finds what she needs. _

_I will alter your records, she tells him. I will make you a more appropriate candidate. _

_She hides his school records. She deletes his psychiatric records. She makes him look average. She forgets that Torchwood Cardiff has access to his Torchwood London profile. _

_She is still human, after all. Sort of. _

_Ianto returns from meeting the director of Torchwood Cardiff, and she discovers that she is still very much human in one particular way. She is jealous. Jealous of his time with this man. Jealous that he called the man good-looking. Jealous that he intends to offer himself to the man to get the job. _

_Ianto should want only her. He should need only her. _

_Ianto needs her help stalking the director. Ianto has stopped calling him 'the director' and started calling him 'the captain.' _

_When he returns the following day, he calls the captain 'Jack.' _

_She learns a new kind of pain. Heartbreak. Her boyfriend is having sex with someone else in order to help her. She doesn't understand it, and doesn't like it, but she doesn't tell him, either, because she needs to get into the base to use their technology. She needs their technology to finish her upgrade. _

_It takes him over two weeks to get the job. He visits her every day, and though he doesn't mention Jack often, she knows they are still having sex. She can see it in the languidness of his muscles. Hear it in the gentleness in his voice on the rare occasions he does mention Jack. _

_He comes to her in the middle of the night. He has been crying. He hasn't taken the time to shower. He tells her that he starts the job in the morning, and that he won't be having sex with Jack again. He just did it for her, he tells her, and begs her to believe him. _

_For a week he comes to visit her from work, and she disguises his movements for him. He no longer smells of sex and fresh shampoo. He refuses to mention Jack. He cries as if his heart were broken as he holds her mangled hand in his. _

_I'll get you into the base tomorrow, he promises. _

_She drifts on pain and painkillers. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 2**

**by Gracefultree**

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Lisa Hallett opened her eyes slowly, aware of a bright light shining over her. Pain arched through her head at the sudden stimulus. A loud voice shouted in a London accent.

"Oi, lovebirds! She's coming around!" A man's face appeared. "I'm Dr. Owen Harper. How do you feel?" he asked kindly.

Lisa licked her chapped lips and looked around her, the mechanics in her body making whirring sounds. Data began streaming into her brain, telling her that she was underground, that she was the only one of her kind here, and much more information than she could process. It made her head hurt worse than a migraine.

"Ianto. I want Ianto," she whispered.

As if conjured by his name, her boyfriend climbed down a set of stairs and ran over to her. He took her hand, what was left of it.

"Lisa, you're awake!" he exclaimed happily. "I wasn't sure you'd make the transition. I was so worried!" He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. Another man walked up behind Ianto and put a hand on his shoulder to peer over it at Lisa. "This is Jack," Ianto added, indicating the man. He was practically jumping on the balls of his feet. Lisa had never seen Ianto smile that widely when introducing her to anyone, and it seemed painfully clear that he was smiling about Jack, excited about Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service," the man said in an American accent, a huge smile brightening his face. He was stunning, with a strong jawline, bright blue eyes and an expressive mouth. He moved around Ianto to cover both of their hands. "How are you feeling?"

She paused, assessing her body, even as her mind worked and assessed her surroundings. She felt the wireless network of their computer system and tested the safeties, only to bite back a gasp of pain. They were much more secure than the Torchwood London servers.

She couldn't help but watch Ianto as she did this, her mind now able to effortlessly multitask thanks to the processors embedded in her brain. He seemed comfortable with Jack touching him. Ianto, who rarely touched anyone, who startled every time she touched him the first six months of their relationship, who hadn't enjoyed kissing or making out, who had to be coaxed through their first sexual experience with kid gloves, though his confidence blossomed once they'd 'broken the ice.' Jack's free hand rested on the small of Ianto's back in an intimate gesture she wondered if they were aware of. Ianto subtly leaned into the touch.

"It hurts," she managed, trying to swallow the bile in her throat. She took a deep breath, her brain bursting with sensory data as her eyes looked around the room.

"What hurts the most?" Owen asked.

"My arms, my legs."

"Headache? Ianto said you complain of those."

"Not too bad," she answered, since she could already tell that the migraine wasn't anything compared to how her heart would be breaking soon. Ianto wouldn't choose her, and she knew it.

"Good, good," Owen muttered to himself as he contemplated the medicine cabinet.

"Where am I?" she asked Ianto, turning her head as little as possible but needing to see his familiar face.

"What do you remember?" he asked. Jack let go of their hands and wandered off. Ianto's eyes followed him for a few seconds before returning to Lisa.

"You got the job," she said with a gasp of pain as Owen shined a penlight in her eyes. "What happened?"

"I got in, darling. We're at Torchwood. I told Jack. He and the others are helping us. They're going to try to make you better." Ianto's eyes tracked up to Jack again, who was leaning against the railing watching the proceedings.

"I thought we couldn't trust —"

"I thought so, too, but we can. Me and Owen and Jack haven't left your side for almost twenty hours, and Tosh has been here nearly as long. She's the tech expert, and she and Owen are working on getting all this metal off you." He squeezed her fingers, then looked away, distracted by Jack leaving the railing when a female voice called out to him. Ianto turned back to her. "You'll see, darling, we'll get you better."

"Lisa, is the pain throbbing, sharp, or dull?" Owen asked suddenly.

"It throbs, but if I try to move it gets sharp, like a shooting pain."

"That's because every time you move, the cybernetics are biting into your muscles. We're getting closer to a solution, but it might take some time. I can give you a general analgesic that will dull the pain, make you feel floaty, maybe let you sleep for a while instead of the coma you've been in, that sort of thing, or I can give you a special shot to completely numb your entire body below your neck. It won't paralyze you, though it'll feel like it, and it won't last more than a few hours, but it will be a relief from the pain. Which do you want?"

She looked to Ianto. "Which should I take?" she asked him. Ianto looked to Owen. "I don't know," he said.

"Jack!" Owen called. "You've had the paralyzer drug before," he said once Jack reappeared at the railing with an Asian woman. "Do you think it would be too disconcerting for Lisa in her current state?"

Jack paused, rubbing his chin as he thought. "That depends. Do you want to be able to follow our conversations about your health even though you won't be able to feel your body at all, or do you trust Ianto to make decisions you'd want while you were drugged with the other one?" he asked, addressing Lisa directly. She looked at Ianto again.

"I don't know," she said softly.

"How much of your body can you feel?" Jack asked.

"It's all just pain."

"Give her the paralyzer. It'll keep all the pain at bay," Jack said to Owen. "And that way she can be part of the discussions." He turned, calling out over his shoulder. "Suzie! Come join us here for a team meeting!" A woman with long, curly hair walked over.

"Lisa, this is Suzie Costello, my second in command and our weapons expert," Jack said, indicating the new arrival. "And this is Toshiko Sato, our computer and technology expert. You know Ianto, obviously, and behind you is Dr. Owen Harper," Jack finished. "Everyone, meet Lisa Hallett." He smiled at her again, and she could see some of what must have drawn Ianto to him. "Welcome to Torchwood."


	3. Chapter 3

**Lisa Wakes**

**by Gracefultree**

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Lisa watched Ianto with Jack. They stood in the main Hub, out of sight of the autopsy bay where she lay, but she could see them quite clearly in a monitor on the wall that was split between four CCTV images. Her enhanced hearing picked up every word they said, even the whispers.

_._

_Ianto walked up to Jack and handed him a mug of coffee, keeping hold of it longer then necessary as their fingers brushed together. _

"_You didn't bring any for yourself?" Jack asked curiously, taking a sip. _

"_Thought I would share yours," Ianto replied, taking the mug back for a sip in an intimate gesture he'd never done with her. She couldn't recall a single incident when he'd shared a cup or fork or even a plate of cookies with her. They didn't share popcorn, either, she remembered. He hadn't wanted their greasy fingers to touch. _

"_You don't like cream in your coffee," Jack protested. _

_Yes, he does! He always drinks it with cream! Lisa wanted to scream, though she kept the thought to herself. Maybe she knew Ianto less well than she thought. Maybe he just drank it that way because that's the way she liked it. Or, she hoped, maybe he was still lying to Jack. _

"_Maybe I need a little comfort right about now," Ianto said softly, not meeting Jack's eyes. Jack took the mug and put it down on the coffee table by the sofa. He stroked Ianto's cheek with the back of his fingers. _

"_There are all kinds of comfort, you know," Jack said. He stepped closer to Ianto. "I'm not as good at offering emotional support as I'd like to be in this situation, because I'm so out of practice, but there's one thing I'd give you any day." He opened his arms. _

_Without hesitation, Ianto accepted the hug Jack offered, holding him as tightly as Jack held him. They stood there for five minutes, simply being, breathing in each other's scents and glorying in the contact, before Ianto raised his head and kissed Jack tenderly. When they broke for air, after kisses that grew more and more heated, Jack pressed a thumb to Ianto's lips, the other fingers splayed across his cheek. _

"_It's not that I mind where this is going, but what about Lisa?" Jack asked. _

_Ianto leaned against Jack, his forehead pressed into Jack's shoulder. He sighed. "I don't know what to do. I've made her promises. I want to make you the same promises." _

"_I know, darling. But you have to talk to her about it. If you and me are going to continue, I won't be your dirty little secret." _

"_I wouldn't ask you to be," Ianto replied. He clung to Jack even tighter, raising his face for another deep kiss. _

_._

"Ianto?" Lisa whispered, a single tear escaping down her cheek.

"You'll get used to seeing them like that," a brisk female voice said from behind Lisa. She rapidly identified it as belonging to Suzie, the weapons expert. The one who'd had the least contact with her in the six hours she'd been awake. "They've been all over each other for two days straight. It's worse 'cause they didn't have time for a shag this morning."

"Ianto said they stopped sleeping together when he got the job," Lisa said, not sure she wanted a response from this cold, calculating woman, but needing to know what was happening anyway.

"Ha! That only lasted a week. They couldn't keep away from each other." Suzie seemed to relish giving Lisa the details, causing as much pain as possible.

"And it's been…"

"Three or four days since they got back together."

_._

"_Can't we just sit over there and make out for a little while? Or have sex?" Ianto asked. "It's been so long since we've touched, and I miss having you inside me." _

"_A day and a half is a long time?" Jack wondered aloud, smiling at Ianto's boldness in talking about their relationship. _

"_It sure feels like it," Ianto answered. "Can we?" _

_Jack smiled and led him to the couch. "We can, but there are rules." _

"_Like what?" _

"_Like this can't go farther than kissing until we've all talked it out. First you and Lisa, then all three of us. Maybe even just me and Lisa." _

"_Why would you have to —"_

"_I like to know the lovers of my lovers. It makes things easier in the long run." Jack paused, pressed a kiss to Ianto's temple. "At least for me. What makes you most comfortable?" _

"_I've never considered something like this. Having two lovers at once. I've always been a one lover at a time man. I told you that." _

"_But I thought, when we first got together, you said you and Lisa had talked about open relationships and being attracted to others, so you wouldn't have something like what happened with Veronica happen again." _

"_Veronica?" Ianto asked, clearly puzzled. _

"_The girl you dated in Uni, the one who tried to con—" _

"_I lied. There was no Veronica." _

"_You lied?" Jack demanded. _

"_I wanted to get you into bed. I thought that story would appeal to the person I thought you were." _

_Jack moved away from Ianto, dropping his arms from around him. "What else have you lied about?" he snarled angrily. _

"_Everything. Just about. I've made up so many stories this past month, I don't remember half of what I've said. Most of it was small stuff, anyway. I needed your trust to get her in here!" _

"_So, what, you lie to me? You get me to trust you and then fuck me over? You tell me you love me then break my heart?" Jack surged to his feet and began pacing, running his fingers through his hair in his agitation. _

"_It was just small stuff, Jack. It wasn't important!" _

"_The small stuff matters, too!" Jack shouted. "The small things, like rosemary. Do you know how many people know my mother grew rosemary in our kitchen? Two. You and me." _

"_So?" _

"_What if I lied about that? What if I just said it to make you feel good because you'd used it in that dish? What if I told you it'd actually been basil? How would you feel then?" _

"_Upset, I guess." _

_Jack shuddered, shivering. When he opened his eyes, there was a rage in them that startled Ianto into stepping backwards. _

"_Upset? Upset? Just upset? Goddamn it, Ianto, I don't have any idea who you are anymore!" _

"_I'm the same person —" _

"_No, you're not! Everything about you is a lie!" _

"_I haven't lied __once_ _since I told you about her. Not to you. You've got a wealth of alien tech at your disposal. Surely some of it could tell you if I'm lying or not?" _

"_You think I need __tech_ _to tell if you're lying?" _

"_Clearly, you do!" _

"_I'll tell you, something, Ianto, and I want you to listen. I've known you were hiding something big since the moment we met, and I've been giving you opportunities to come to me about it time and time again, but you never took them. I gave you the chance to trust me, and you —" _

"_Trust you? Why on Earth would I trust you?" Ianto demanded. "You're the one who monitors my computer and mobile. You're the one who tracks my movements. How is that trusting me to come to you?" _

"_I have a job to do," Jack hissed. _

"_You looked up my psych records!" _

"_So?" Jack grunted, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I look up the psych records of all potential employees." _

"_I wasn't a potential employee then. I was your lover!" _

"_You've got your facts wrong. I set it in motion the first night we met because here you were, a gorgeous young man coming to my rescue in the middle of the night, right in the nick of time, coming on to me, and you knew what a weevil was. You were a potential security risk. And when I found out you were from Torchwood, I had to look deeper, especially when I saw that your records had been altered." _

"_You're a bastard, Jack Harkness." _

"_I've been called worse." _

_Ianto lunged forward and grabbed Jack's collar, pulling him into a rough kiss. Jack tripped him, landed on top of him, kissed him back just as roughly. One of their lips split open, the copper tang of blood intensifying their kiss. They struggled against each other, neither willing to let the other lead. Ianto relaxed slightly, shifted his hips. Jack's eyes widened in surprise. _

_Ianto rolled them so he was on top. He held Jack's hands down and bent to bite Jack's neck. Jack arched his back, moaning. Smiling, Ianto kissed him again. Jack relaxed into the kiss, so Ianto let his hands up. Jack gripped Ianto's waist, moved to hold Ianto's hands behind his back. _

_Their eyes met. _

"_I still love you, __cariad__, despite all this," Ianto whispered. He jerked in surprise as Jack clicked a pair of handcuff closed around his wrists. "What the fuck?" _

_._

Lisa closed her eyes so she couldn't see the video anymore.

"He never called _me cariad,"_ she whispered to herself.

"If you want, I'll help you," Suzie said quietly, conspiratorially. "I have a drug that'll take all his memories of Jack away, so he'll just be yours again. Would you like that?"

"Yes," Lisa heard herself answer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 4**

**by Gracefultree**

A/N: Warnings for discussions of non-con. If that triggers you, don't read this chapter. Otherwise, enjoy learning more about Ianto.

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_"You claim to love me, yet you hurt me like this," Jack said. He climbed to his feet and glared at Ianto. "I don't care about the girlfriend. We could've worked through that, but all the lies? All the claims to feelings you don't have? Enough."_

_"Jack, would you just listen —"_

_"I almost believed you, you know. I almost believed that you loved me, but I can't see it anymore. Now you're just a danger. A liability. I should put you in the cells to keep you from-"_

_"I do love you!" Ianto shouted, breaking into Jack's train of thought. He struggled to his feet. "I'm completely out of my depth, here. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm more alone than I've ever been in my entire life and I'm scared! I'm terrified!_

_"I have a girlfriend who's dying who probably wasn't the right person for me anyway, and an engagement ring I never gave her because I knew even as I bought it that she's not the person I would be happiest with, that something, some spark, something real and necessary was always missing between us, but she was comfortable, and safe, and pretty, and she offered me an easy life someone like me would never have gotten on his own, even with my academic skills, and how am I supposed to make that up to her now that she's like this? The guilt alone is killing me!_

_"I have a man that I've lied to and hurt when all I wanted was to curl up in his arms and let him help me because, honestly, I've never felt more safe than when you hold me." Ianto paused, straightening his posture as much as possible with his hands secured behind his back._

_"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Jack, and I fucked it up! I fucked it up big time, because I was lying from the beginning, and do you have any idea how hard it is to stop lying when you know it'll break someone's heart? And not just anyone's heart, but the man you've come to love more than anything?"_

_"As if you know anything of love," Jack taunted, turning his back to Ianto. "All you are is lies!" Jack spat._

_Ianto charged him, but Jack was prepared. He swung around and shoved Ianto as hard as he could, sending him sprawling on the floor. Ianto clambered to his feet again._

_"You want the truth, Jack? The real truth?"_

_"Once she's better, I want you gone," Jack declared forcefully._

_"Jack —"_

_"No! You lied to me. You manipulated me. You claimed to love me and used my love for you against me. When she's better, you're leaving Torchwood, you're leaving Cardiff, and you're leaving my life! And if we can't save her, you're still leaving, you understand? You pushed me too far, Ianto. You hurt me too much."_

_"But, Jack —"_

_"Enough! We're through. Done. Finished. Over."_

_"Jack!"_

_"Don't test me, Ianto," Jack growled, flicking open the holster for his Webley. He paused, looking down at his hand on his gun. He held up the other hand to stop Ianto from moving. "Something's not right," he muttered. He looked over at Ianto, his eyes widening at the sight of his arms behind his back and blood on his lip. "Something's off about this," he continued, puzzled. He pressed a button on his wrist strap and the handcuffs fell to the floor._

_"My father raped me," Ianto said, much more calmly than he expected to be able to. "It started the morning of my mother's funeral and didn't stop until I got back from my week of lockup and learned how to fight back from the other kids there. I was thirteen. Four years, Jack. It went on almost daily for four years, and that's not something you'll find in my psych records, because I've never told anyone, not even Lisa."_

_Jack stood there, stunned._

_"Like recognizes like, Jack. I see it in your eyes, too, that kind of pain. It might not have been your father, but it was someone. And you know what? That I was able to move on and be a sexual person again is pretty damned miraculous, if you ask me. And you know what else? I've only ever been attracted to two people in my whole life, and one of them is you, and one of them is lying in that autopsy bay dying, and maybe I am gay, because I feel ten times more for you than I ever did for her! Maybe all that shit with my father made me suppress it, I don't know, but that's the truth, Jack. Can you handle it?"_

_"Ianto," Jack whispered, extending a hand hesitantly in his direction. "I had no -"_

_"I didn't want you to know! I didn't want anyone to know. But that's the most real thing about me."_

_Ianto collapsed to his knees as tears streamed unchecked and unheeded down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Jack! I'm sorry this got so out of control, and I'm sorry I hurt you, and I'm sorry I lied to you, but she was the only thing keeping me alive after the Battle, and I had to save her. I had to try. And then I met you…" Ianto trailed off, his tears coming faster. "I met you…"_

_Jack heaved a great sigh and strode over to Ianto and pulled him to his feet and into his arms. He led Ianto to the couch again._

_"You gave my life meaning again," Ianto whispered through his tears. "You gave me a reason to keep going. You gave me a hope for something better than the shithole my life's always been, and I've been screwing it up since before we even met. How could I recover from that? How could we recover from that?"_

_"Oh, Ianto, we'll start over, OK? We'll find a way. I was just angry before. I was hurt. But we'll make this work, if that's what you really want."_

_"I do, Jack. I want this."_

_They started kissing, slowly and sensually. The kisses burned hotter and hotter, until Ianto was pulling at his shirt and helping Jack out of his. Jack pressed him down on his back, kissing him with increasing passion. Ianto reached for their belts._

_"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked in a ragged, lust-filled whisper. "I'm not sure I can stop unless you push me away. I need to trust that you'll tell me no if you want me to stop." He pulled a lube packet from his trouser pocket, ripped it open with his teeth._

_Ianto nodded breathlessly. "Yes. I'm sure. I want you, and I want you right now!"_

_"The others could come back from lunch anytime," Jack warned, even as he prodded Ianto with a lubed finger, loosening him. He pulled his fingers out, used the rest of the lube on his cock._

_"I don't care. I need this. I need you." Ianto moaned and clutched at Jack when Jack started pushing in. "Come on, cariad, all the way in," he encouraged._

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"Goddamn it!" Suzie hissed. "Jack noticed that I was trying to influence them."

"Influence them, how?" Lisa asked, trying to block her ears from the sounds of sex and failing. Her enhanced hearing felt like more of a curse in this situation, and Ianto's moans of pleasure were more intense and raw than they'd ever been with her.

"I have this device here that amplifies a specifically chosen emotion. I was going with anger, but Jack noticed and broke free. It won't work on him again."

"But why would you do that?"

"Because I want Ianto out of the way. He's been messing with Jack for long enough. The sooner I get him out of here, the better. You can have him. If Jack gets angry and kicks him out, I don't have to worry about him looking in my direction about it. Jack's mine, you see, and _no_ _one_ messes with my things."

Lisa closed her eyes, deciding that, painful as it was, she'd rather listen to the lovemaking after all, if Suzie was the only other person in the building.


	5. Chapter 5

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 5**

**by Gracefultree**

A/N:Thank you to all the wonderful people who've reviewed! I have one more chapter already written, so you'll have another update soon. After that, well, let's just say I have twelve hours to account for. It might take a few chapters.

Warnings for discussions of non-con.

Enjoy!

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_Ianto lay panting under Jack, spent and at peace. _

"_I thought we weren't going to do this yet," Ianto managed through his gasps, running his fingers through Jack's sweaty hair. "Not that I'm complaining, mind." _

"_I lose control when I'm around you," Jack replied, sighing, resting his head on Ianto's heaving chest. "I find myself breaking all my own rules for you." _

"_I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not," Ianto said. _

"_I'm not sure, either." _

"_Listen, about earlier, what I said —" _

"_Which part?" _

"_Could it be that I've been gay this whole time and just refused to think about it?" _

"_You know I don't think about sexuality like that, with labels and names," Jack began, then put a comforting hand on Ianto's chest to stop him from interrupting. "But if you're asking if being raped by a man could turn you off to the idea of voluntary sex with one? Yes. Absolutely. It must have been horrible, what happened to you, and you were so young… Your own father…" He trailed off. _

"_Must have made love and sex and pain very confusing and mixed up for you. To love someone who's supposed to take care of you but who hurts you… And if any of it felt good… God, that would make it all the more confusing! And you haven't had therapy, or treatment of any kind? To be able to be with me like this really __is_ _miraculous. We've done scenes!" _

_Jack paused, drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And you're right. Like recognizes like. I was older, though. Already a man when it happened to me." _

"_Maybe right after make-up sex isn't the right time to talk about our trauma histories," Ianto murmured. "I'm not sure I can take it after everything else." _

"_Is there ever a good time to talk about it, though?" _

"_I suppose not." _

"_Well, we can table it for now." _

"_Thank you." Ianto kissed Jack's forehead. _

_They lay in silence for a few minutes, neither ready to get up off the couch and face the reality of their situation, yet neither willing to continue the conversation, either. Jack made spirals on Ianto's skin. _

"_What happened to us back there?" Ianto wondered aloud. "How did I end up in handcuffs?" _

"_I think something was manipulating me. It was amplifying my anger, trying to force me to do something nasty. There's that box of uncategorized artifacts by Tosh's station. Maybe something in there was triggered." _

"_Shit." _

"_If I hadn't been so angry to begin with, I would have noticed it sooner, but as it was, it made what I was feeling stronger. I'm just glad I caught it in time." _

"_Would you have shot me?" _

"_Not to kill you." Ianto shivered, and Jack held him tighter. "I've done ruthless things in the past, and I will do them again, if necessary," Jack said, as if the words were forced out of him. "I can only hope that my loved ones won't be in the crossfire when it happens again." They contemplated this for a few minutes. _

"_What should we do?" Ianto finally asked. "I feel like I don't know anything anymore. My whole world's been turned upside down. Again. For the — God, it's been at least six times now. Maybe seven." _

"_Seven times your world's changed completely around you?" _

"_Yeah. Two times within one month. Maybe three." _

"_Between the Battle and meeting me, you mean?" Jack asked. Ianto made an affirmative noise. "For now, we should probably shower and get back to work. I'm kind of surprised the others aren't back yet. Owen said he might have a report for us." _

"_Do you think he can help her?" _

"_I hope so. In my time there wasn't a treatment for being converted, but I'd never heard of someone only partially converted who survived for treatment before, so I don't really know. We might get lucky. There's a Japanese scientist who specializes in cybernetics that Tosh has been tracking. Maybe we can call him in." _

"_Tanizaki," Ianto said. "I spoke to him last week. He's scheduled to come in October." _

"_You would've waited that long to get her help?" Jack asked, surprised. _

"_I didn't know what else to do. I'd thought I could get him here within the month, our trial month, but that didn't work out. He's a busy man." _

"_Did you use the Torchwood name?" _

"_Of course. It made him decide on October instead of next year. Apparently he lectures a lot. Just another lie under my belt," Ianto muttered. "Since I was stealing resources." _

"_I'm glad you chose to tell me," Jack said with a relieved sigh. "It makes some part of this whole mess of our relationship less complicated. It means you don't have to hide her anymore, don't have to lie. Once we're dressed, I'll pull rank, get him here tomorrow." _

"_You can do that?" _

"_I'll get a writ from the Queen if I have to," Jack said firmly. "She can talk to the Japanese Prime Minister if the writ isn't enough." _

"_You're an amazing man, Jack." _

"_So are you, Ianto Jones. The things you're willing to do for love astound me. Honestly." _

"_Are_ _we in a relationship?" Ianto asked after a minute. _

"_I thought so. I told you that's what I wanted. And I never asked for exclusivity," Jack reminded him. "I'm fine with you being with Lisa, too." _

"_Really?" _

"_Really," Jack reassured him. He sighed. "Mostly," he amended. "I'm a little jealous, which is breaking another of my rules." _

"_You have a rule to not be jealous?" _

"_Usually works, too. Haven't had a problem with it in years." _

"_From what you've told me, you haven't wanted a __relationship_ _in years, either." _

"_True." _

"_Shower together?" Ianto asked hopefully, angling to change the subject. _

"_Why not?" _

"_I don't feel like moving yet, though," Ianto grumbled. Jack kissed his chest next to where he'd been resting his cheek, humming contentedly. _

"_Oh, God!" Owen shouted as he walked into the Hub with Tosh and saw the two men sprawled out together on the couch, obviously post-coitus and still naked. "We sit there!" he exclaimed in horror. _

"_Always room for one more," Jack quipped, levering himself up and off Ianto, not bothering to cover himself, though he did it in such a way as to give Ianto time to drape his shirt modestly over his crotch. _

"_That's disgusting!" Owen answered, pointedly looking away as Jack buttoned his trousers and zipped his fly. _

"_Tosh?" Jack asked, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Care to join in?" _

_Tosh giggled. "No, thanks, Jack. Not that you two aren't gorgeous enough, but…" _

"_There's more than enough complication there already," Suzie finished for her, appearing from around the corner. _

_Ianto, meanwhile, had pulled on his trousers. With burning cheeks and an armful of clothing, only some of it his, he dashed past everyone towards the showers, a mumbled, __coffee coming up in a sec__, trailing behind him. _

"_Make sure you wash your bloody hands!" Owen shouted behind him. "And I want this couch bleached!" _

_Jack, grinning, sashayed to his office. "I'll want your report as soon as I'm showered," he called to Owen over his shoulder. _

.

Lisa closed her eyes and let her mind drift as the Torchwood team worked around her. The painkillers Owen gave her were helping. Data continued streaming into her brain. She listened to their wireless network, hoping for a chink in the defenses. She couldn't find one yet. She overheard Jack's conversation with the Queen and the lyrical sound of Toshiko speaking Japanese to Dr. Tanizaki, who promised to be in Cardiff as soon as he could. She looked up information on him, read confidential UNIT documents. (Their servers were not nearly as secure as Torchwood Cardiff's.) Lisa smiled to herself. Manipulating this planet's internet was ridiculously easy.

Dr. Tanizaki seemed like a good candidate to help her complete her upgrade. She was able to parse the data quickly, easily learning from his conversations with others of her kind, those with failed upgrades, that he wanted to understand the process, that his method of choice was to complete the process and reverse-engineer it to make advances for cybernetic medical care. None of the others had survived, but he was determined to continue his research. She would be a lure he couldn't resist.

He would not doubt her desire to fully upgrade, the way Ianto and Torchwood would. She rearranged flight times and got him on a special UNIT transfer plane from London, where he was finishing his work with another failed upgrade, that would have him arrive in Cardiff in four hours, then sent updates to him, to UNIT, to Torchwood, acting as whichever agency seemed most appropriate. Jack complimented Tosh on her efficiency, and she told him it wasn't her, though he seemed to think she was just being modest about her skills.


	6. Chapter 6

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 6**

**by Gracefultree**

A/N: Warnings for language and adult themes.

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Lisa waited, listening, pretending to sleep. Jack and Ianto continued flirting and stealing the occasional kiss, though they avoided doing it where she could see. Then, after a hushed conversation too far away for even her enhanced ears to pick up, more kisses, and Jack's promise to be nearby if needed, Ianto climbed down the steps into the autopsy bay to sit on a stool beside her.

"Lisa?" he asked softly. "Are you awake, sweetie?"

She opened her eyes and looked over at him. She had more freedom of movement now that she was no longer attached to the conversion unit, though she was still connected to a respirator and many IVs. She couldn't sit up yet. Her body was too heavy. She would need their assistance in getting off all of the extra life support equipment. She hoped Tanizaki would help finish her upgrade so she could be whole again.

Ianto held her hand in one of his, then started stroking her fingers with the fingers of his free hand. With alien technology in her brain enhancing her memories, she easily counted the sixteen times in two years that Ianto had taken her hand. Usually it was a simple grab, squeeze, release pattern, though once he'd held on longer, lacing his fingers with hers for three whole minutes as they walked along the street. Now, his face was lowered, his shoulders scrunched up. She often joked that he looked like a turtle trying to avoid something when he did it, but she decided against mentioning it now.

Her brain came up with many possibilities for what he would say next. 'I don't love you anymore.' 'I'm gay.' 'I'm in love with someone else.' 'I want a threeway.' None of it included Ianto dumping Jack.

He managed to surprise her.

"I never told you why I was so keen on leaving home, did I?" he asked softly, still stroking her fingers. She felt a flush of pleasure at the touch, which quickly morphed into pain as the cybernetics in her brain dampened the emotion. She felt electric shocks tingling throughout her body. She arched her back, whimpering.

Ianto adjusted the saline drip and injected a dose of painkillers.

"That better?" he asked, returning to his seat and the stroking of her fingers. She felt the pain lessen slightly and sighed in relief.

"Are you supposed to be giving me that?"

"Owen said it would be OK. It's a special medicine derived from alien flora that isn't addictive, or so he says. He makes it himself."

"Go on, then, tell me why you left home," she suggested, reminding him of what he'd been about to say earlier. She replayed the conversations between him and Jack she'd overheard, the shouted confessions of abuse and love and guilt. Would he tell her those things? Would he tell her about Jack? Would it matter?

"I left as soon as I could," he said softly. "Right after my father died. I went to London. You know that. But what I've never told you is that —" He broke off and squeezed her fingers. "Um, it's — I — "

"Whatever it is, you don't have to tell me," she said, wondering why he was pushing himself. What would he gain from telling her? Emotions were basically useless, and spending so much time agonizing over them was inefficient. If she could control her eyes, she would have blinked in surprise. Emotions are inefficient? Where did that thought come from?

Suddenly an alarm blared. Ianto jerked upright, dropping her hand. "Sorry, sorry," he muttered. "I have to go."

Jack met Ianto at the top of the stairs, still within Lisa's line of sight. He stopped Ianto with a hand outstretched on his chest. "You're off duty, Ianto," Jack said firmly. "Tosh will monitor from her station and the rest of us will go deal with it." He placed a small object in Ianto's hand.

"But —" Ianto protested.

"Lisa is your priority right now," Jack interrupted, his voice softer, kinder. He stroked Ianto's cheek with this thumb, then pulled Ianto's head down to kiss his forehead. "Take care of her and take care of yourself. We'll be back before you know it."

"You're sure?" Ianto asked, meeting and holding Jack's eyes. "I could bring the SUV around."

Jack smiled. "We can take care of ourselves for a little while. It's just a small Rift flare, anyway. It doesn't look like anything organic came through."

Ianto nodded and put the earpiece Jack had given him on his right ear. He returned to his chair, taking Lisa's hand yet again.

"My dad, he was abusive," Ianto said in a choked voice once he was sure that the Hub was empty except for them and Toshiko, who was busy at her station. "Sexually. I, um, I did my best to, um, repress it, you know, like, pretend it hadn't happened." He bit his lip and looked away, debating about what to say next.

"I slept around in Uni," he admitted finally. "I never told you that. I thought that if I met the right woman, I'd like sex. But I never did, so I stopped doing it. Sex was a chore, kind of. Something I had to do, something expected of me. I felt so bad about myself afterwards, because I knew I didn't like it, but was doing it anyway. I thought I should date someone properly, then maybe it'd be OK for me. I met you. You were patient with me. It made me feel comfortable. You let me take my time."

"Baby, it doesn't matter," she said, trying to be comforting though she had absolutely no idea what to say in such a situation. She'd never known anyone who'd been abused before. She replayed the conversation between the two men again, decided that Jack's response couldn't be hers. Besides, the point was that he was leaving her, wasn't it? Just because he was actually admitting it didn't mean she had to make it easy on him.

"It _does_ matter!" Ianto said forcefully, letting go of her hand.

"Baby, I know. I mean, you don't have to talk about it."

"I do, though. I've — I've learned a lot the past few weeks. A lot about myself, about the world. Jack, he — he's shown me some things I'd never known existed, and, um, it —"

"You're gay," Lisa interrupted harshly. "Aren't you? No wonder you were always so _frigid!_"

"Frigid?" Ianto demanded, rising to his feet, anger coiling through his gut. "I was raped for four years! Of course I didn't want anyone touching me! How can you call that frigid? I actually _liked_ having sex with you!"

"Not the way you like it with Jack, though," she spat. "I heard you. I heard the whole thing. I _saw_ the whole thing. You've never let go like that with me. You've never let me touch you like that."

"Lisa!"

"Ianto!" she mocked. "Always prim and proper. Always so concerned about me, about waiting, about making sure it was what _we both_ wanted… Well, I wanted you to take me like he just took you, and you never did. You probably can't, can you? I bet you couldn't even fuck _him!_ Would it make a difference if I could fuck you? Would it?"

"I don't — I'm not — I can't — I'm trying to _help_ you!" he shouted.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so busy bending over for Captain Jack, you'd have fixed me already," she snapped.

"I have lied so many times for you," Ianto barked. "I've lied and cheated and stolen and bribed my way out of London with you in the back of a lorry. I've gone without sleep for weeks so that I could be there for you. I've done everything I could to help you, and now you're accusing me of —"

"Selling yourself like the whore you are!" Lisa shouted. "If you were any good at it, maybe you'd have made something of yourself."

"Ungrateful bitch!"

"Cock — "

"Don't you dare finish that word! I heard more than enough of that from my father, and I don't need any more from you!"

"— sucker," Lisa finished.

Ianto glared at her, his eyes flashing with anger, his teeth bared in an animistic grimace of hatred. He pressed his lips together into a thin line, his nostrils flaring at the effort to breathe through his rage. His hands were balled into fists, and they were shaking at his side, curled and ready to strike. He balanced on the balls of his feet, his entire posture screaming _attack, destroy, kill. _

He stared down at his girlfriend, with her metal-encased body and cybernetic components, with her IVs full of saline and medicine and blood, with her struggles to breathe and live and be a human being again. He thought of Jack, who could be both loving and cruel in the same breath, who wouldn't hesitate to shoot him if —

The tension snapped.

"I'll forget you said that," Ianto growled, turning on his heel and storming up the steps and away from her.

"I won't!" she yelled after him.

With her cybernetic ears, she heard a click of the comm system activating. "_Jack?" _Ianto asked, his voice harsh and ragged from screaming.

"_Ianto? What's wrong?" _Jack's voice was concerned. He could tell something had happened from Ianto's voice.

"_Whatever was influencing you earlier just had a go at me and Lisa," _Ianto said as calmly as he could manage. "_Neither of us were ourselves, and we were shouting at each other. We've never had that kind of fight before." _

"_Well, this Rift alert was a bust. Didn't need all three of us, that's for sure. A bit of garbage. Broken rubbish from — looks like the 50th Century. Don't touch the box of stuff. Suzie and I will look at it when we get back. We'll be home in twenty." _

"_Good. I need you." _

"_Well —" _Jack said in a playful tone.

"_Not in that way!" _

"_Sit tight. I'm almost there," _Jack said, his voice suddenly serious.


	7. Chapter 7

**Lisa Wakes - CHapter 7**

**by Gracefultree**

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Jack strode into the Hub purposefully, his captain mask firmly in place. He squeezed Ianto's shoulder in passing and went immediately to the box of artifacts by Tosh's station, not even bothering to shed his coat. Tosh, returning from the toilets, gave him a puzzled look which he ignored.

"Suzie! Conference room."

"Be right there," she called, entering with Owen, carrying a containment case between them.

Jack hefted the box and motioned for Ianto to help him carry it up the metal stairs.

"You feeling any better?" Jack asked softly as they moved. Ianto shrugged, almost unbalancing the box. "Words, darling. I don't want this thing tipping over and having whatever it is activate again."

"Me and Lisa said some pretty horrible things to each other," Ianto murmured. "I was trying to tell her about my dad, to give her some context, before I mentioned you, but…"

"But?" Jack asked as Ianto trailed off.

"She called me a whore for sleeping with you…she called me frigid…"

Jack let out a surprised bark of laughter. "Frigid? You're the most sensual, passionate and attentive person I've had in my bed in years! You're _anything_ but frigid." They deposited the box on the conference room table. Jack stepped closer to Ianto, pulled him into a hug.

"Desperate people do desperate things," he whispered in Ianto's ear as he stroked the fine hairs at the base of his neck. "You've had trauma heaped on trauma your entire life, much more than I thought you did when we met, and you're doing so well. You live, you work, you try to find love." Jack paused, then breathed warmly over Ianto's ear. "Answer me one thing."

"What?"

"If Lisa's life weren't in the balance and you met me on the street, would you have taken a chance to get to know me? Would you have kissed me? Slept with me?"

"Yes," Ianto answered in a small, scared voice. "It — It's so hard to think about, after what happened… that I'd even consider it… but, yes. I'd take a chance on you. You've already proven, well, that you're worth it. Almost makes me think I am, too."

"You _are_ worth it," Jack said fervently. "You deserve happiness and love and everything good the world has to offer. That's why I offered you the flat. I wanted you to have something nice, one less thing to worry about, one less stress after Canary Wharf fell. I wasn't trying to buy your affections. I just wanted you safe and protected and happy."

Ianto smirked. "And where you could find me," he pointed out.

"Well, that would have been an added bonus, but, seriously, you're important. Not just to me, but to Lisa and to your sister and her family. To your friends —"

"They're all dead, now," Ianto muttered. "There's no one in Cardiff I'd call a friend."

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"It's not even been a month, Jack. We're all still getting used to it. If I didn't have you, or Lisa, or Torchwood Cardiff and a job to do, I'd probably be like some of the other survivors, already locked away on a psych ward, unable to cope."

"I'm glad you're here instead of there," Jack murmured, kissing Ianto's ear.

"I slept around in Uni," Ianto blurted. "I picked up a lot of women in clubs, that kind of thing. I told Lisa, so I needed to tell you, too. But I stopped after my second year. I wasn't with anyone until Lisa after that."

Jack paused, pulling himself back and looking at Ianto, measuring him. "Lisa and I aren't the same," he began.

"I know, but I had to tell you. I have to be honest. I have to get used to it again."

Jack nodded, pursing his lips. "Is it so hard to be honest that you have to share everything?" he asked softly, raising a hand to touch Ianto's cheek.

"I've been lying since I was nine," Ianto reminded him.

Jack sighed. "At some point I'd like you to tell me all this, but now we don't have time. Tanizaki is due in a few hours, and Lisa needs to be taken care of." He watched Ianto's expression fall. "I promise you we'll get to it," he said, pulling Ianto close for a quick kiss.

"I've never talked about any of it. Now that it's out, that I've said it…"

"You want to say the rest, don't you?" Jack murmured, moving to kiss along Ianto's neck. "I'll listen, but if you go too fast, you'll get overwhelmed. I might not be so good at giving emotional support, but I know that much, at least."

"It's like I'm in a race. My emotions have been everywhere…"

"And there's an alien device sitting in this box just waiting to be found that's been amplifying your anger. And mine, and Lisa's. We have to find it and shut it down if we're going to move forward without all this turmoil." He kissed Ianto quickly one more time. "Now, you're an archivist, let's go through this box," Jack said with enthusiasm, letting go of Ianto and clapping his hands together in excitement, his mood changing suddenly.

Suzie walked in carrying a smaller box, brimming over with random tech. "I found this by the couch," she reported, putting in on the table. "I thought we might want to check in here, too."

"Good idea," Jack said. "Now, work to do."

.

.

It was Ianto who found the emotion enhancer, pulling it from the smaller box Suzie had carried in. It looked like a color wheel made of several kinds of metal disks, enameled with different colors, each section with a symbol etched into it. Jack took it from him immediately, recognizing it from his travels.

"Yep, set to enhance anger," Jack said, indicating the symbol on the largest of the disks, the one that had an arrow pointed to it. "This is a modifier for all sexes," he added, indicating the inner disk. "I'm not sure what this middle one does, but the thing certainly explains what's been happening."

Suzie took it from him and turned it over. On the back several English words were scraped, one of which was anger, another of which was lust. "Looks like someone had it before us."

"Shall we experiment?" he asked with a grin, taking it back from her and motioning to a symbol that didn't have an English translation on the back.

"No!" Ianto and Suzie shouted together. They glanced at each other and Ianto gave her a tentative smile, which she returned. She'd been treating him better since he came out about Lisa, and everyone was noticing.

"As if!" Jack said with a chuckle. Ianto and Suzie shared a hesitant laugh, making Jack smile even more.

"_Jack? Dr. Tanizaki is here," _Tosh said over the intercom. "_Do you want me to bring him down, or will you go meet him?" _

Jack shared a look with Ianto. "I'll meet him," he told her. "Suzie, make sure all this stuff gets to the sorting room in the Archives. Ianto, you're with me." On the way past Tosh's station, he handed her the emotion enhancer. "Put this in a containment case in my office, please."


	8. Chapter 8

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 8**

**by Gracefultree**

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"Mister Harkness," Tanizaki said, extending a hand to shake Jack's, his accent blurring the r's into nonexistence. "I am Dr. Tanizaki."

"That's Captain," Jack replied with a tight smile, shaking the man's hand. There was something off about him, and Jack wasn't sure what it was, yet. He'd have to wait and see it play out. "This is my assistant, Ianto Jones," he said, indicating Ianto, who stood slightly behind him and to the right. "Thank you for coming so quickly. The situation has become more critical since you spoke to Ianto last week, which is why we arranged for you to come now."

"It is an opportunity I would not miss," Tanizaki replied, with hints of condescension and arrogance intermixed in the deferential tone of his voice.

"Please," Jack said, indicating for Tanizaki to precede him. Ianto took Tanizaki's large briefcase from him and followed behind. Once through the cog wheel door, Jack introduced the other members of the team. "And this is Dr. Owen Harper," he said last, indicating Owen. "He's overseeing Lisa's medical care."

"That's _Dr_. —" Owen started to say, then stopped, stunned that Jack had used his title when introducing him, though he realized that Jack had done the same thing to Lisa and he hadn't even noticed, he was so concerned about his new patient. He shook his head to banish the irrelevant thoughts and stepped forward to shake hands with Tanizaki. If Jack could play nice, maybe he could try, too. "If you'll come this way…"

The four men walked over to the autopsy bay to where Lisa lay. Tanizaki gasped. "Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "An almost intact conversion! Would you say, 50% augmentation?" he asked Owen. Tanizaki hurried down the steps to examine Lisa. "Or maybe, 60-40?" He grabbed the metal covering her breast in a crude, almost vulgar sexual manner. All three of the other men looked away, disgusted. Lisa shuddered and opened her eyes.

"Ianto?" she asked softly.

"I'm here," Ianto said, rushing around the doctor to her side. He bent to kiss her lips, pretending everything was fine, despite their argument earlier. "How are you feeling?"

"Something was — something was interfering with my circuits earlier," she said, looking at him and Jack, who stood calmly behind Ianto, knowing she needed their support if she was to get what she wanted. "It made me say some things I didn't mean." She turned her head to see Owen checking her blood gas levels. Tanizaki, meanwhile, continued touching her and running his hands over her body, muttering to himself in Japanese and ignoring the others around him.

"I know," Ianto said, taking her hand and settling back onto his chair. Jack placed a comforting hand on Ianto's shoulder. "We found an alien device. It had hold of me, too. Jack contained it. I'm sorry for what I said."

"Me, too," she said, her eyes focusing briefly on Jack's hand on Ianto's shoulder. She felt a flare of jealousy, then the wash of electric shocks that were becoming more frequent. She looked away.

"Fascinating!" Tanizaki exclaimed. He turned to Ianto, his eyes bright with zeal. "You said there was a functioning conversion unit?" he asked, licking his lips.

"It's life support," Ianto said stiffly, feeling Jack's hand tighten painfully on his shoulder at Tanizaki's question. "I took pieces of a conversion unit and made it so that she could live before I brought her here. It doesn't work to convert people." Jack relaxed his grip. Ianto wondered if he would have bruises when he looked later, Jack's grip had been so strong.

"I must see it," Tanizaki declared.

"Not until we have a plan for helping Lisa," Owen interjected. "She's in a lot of pain, and I want these 'augmentations,' as you call them, gone. I want her to be able to breathe on her own, too."

Tanizaki looked from Owen to Ianto and Jack, taking note of their firm, determined expressions, the concern radiating from all three of them and the combination of Ianto holding Lisa's hand and Jack's hand on Ianto's shoulder. He looked at Lisa's face for the first time. "Are you aware of your surroundings?" he asked her.

"Yes," she answered, her voice full of pain.

"I am Dr. Tanizaki. I will be studying you."

"I thought you were supposed to help me," she said, adding confusion to her voice, mimicking an emotion she couldn't feel anymore because of the electricity pumping along her neurons. She knew that she needed to keep up the pretense.

"I will," Tanizaki said. He turned to Owen and asked for her vitals and the course of treatment so far, what Owen had done, what had and hadn't worked.

.

.

With all six people helping, Tanizaki and the others were able to remove much of the external plating around Lisa's arms and legs, though not all. Wires that had been concealed beneath the metal remained, and the two doctors hypothesized that they were in the process of replacing her circulatory system when the conversion process stopped. With steady hands, Owen removed the metal plating around Lisa's neck.

"Oh, thank God!" he breathed when he was finished. "No wires here. That means her throat and esophagus should be OK."

"It appears that the spinal column is compromised," Tanizaki said, indicating the newest x-rays. "Here, here, and here." He pointed. "Very thin wires have been inserted that wind complexly around her spinal chord."

"How do we get it off?" Tosh asked.

"The only thing I can think of that has even a slight chance of success would be to use the conversion unit to remove it," Tanizaki said.

Jack and Ianto, conferring quietly in the corner, looked up at his words. "No," Jack said firmly. "We're not using that thing."

"Even if it's the only way to save her?" Suzie asked angrily. In the past few hours, she had become a very vocal advocate for helping Lisa. "I say we do it."

Jack looked to Ianto.

"I can't go near that thing again," Ianto said.

"But you're the only one who knows how to use it!" Suzie protested.

"No, Lisa just told me what to do. I was just following her directions."

"Then we wake her up," Suzie said. "We can take her down there, and she can help us make it work to help her."

"You know, you've gone from hating me to being 100% behind helping Lisa very quickly," Ianto mused aloud.

Suzie shrugged. "When Jack's happy, the rest of us are happy," she commented. "It's as simple as that. He wants her better, so we'll make her better."

Ianto grunted, but nodded in acceptance. "She knew what to do before, so maybe it would work. She could tell us what to do again." He looked over at Jack, raising an eyebrow in question.

"We'll ask her," Jack said. "If she thinks she can do it, we'll give it a try." He crossed his arms over his chest.

Something beeped. Tosh looked at her PDA. "Mainframe has that data analysis, Jack. I should really —"

"Go," he said. She scampered up the steps to her station and was soon immersed in the world of binary code and graphs no one else could interpret.


	9. Chapter 9

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 9**

**by Gracefultree**

A/N: This is the second-to-last chapter of 'Lisa Wakes.' Keep a lookout for the next installment in this 'verse: 'Suzie Wakes.' It will be a brief ficlet before the *real* sequel everyone's been waiting for: 'Waking to Live,' in which we see what happens after 'Ianto Wakes.'

Thanks to trektotorch for the Suzie idea - it's been running around in my head for several days now, and it needs to get out. Thanks to several others for encouraging me to expand on this story, bringing you ten chapters instead of nine.

Warnings for mentioning dark kinks, character death (canon), and lots and lots of angst.

Enjoy!

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It was decided that Tanizaki, Owen, Jack and Suzie would go to the basement with Lisa. Ianto busied himself cleaning the autopsy bay and other areas of the main Hub. Tosh conferred briefly with Jack about a hacker who was trying to get into their network that she was tracking, then returned to her monitors.

With great care, Owen and Jack assisted Lisa into the conversion unit after she walked Tanizaki through the modifications. He smiled throughout the process, suggesting a few things, which she considered and agreed to while Owen and Jack watched from the side of the room, bemused, neither familiar enough with the technology to offer much beyond physical strength and steady hands to the process. Suzie pulled Owen into the hallway for a discussion as Jack made sure Lisa was comfortable. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"According to my database, it should take an hour," Lisa told them. "It will be painful. Can you help me sleep through it?" she asked Owen when he and Suzie came back into the room.

"Of course," Owen answered, not looking at Jack. He added painkillers to her IV and Lisa drifted off.

Lisa's sensors remained active, even while her consciousness was disengaged, and she listened to the humans going about their activities. The newest human, Tanizaki, had been very helpful so far, realizing that she wanted to restore the conversion unit to be able to complete upgrades and not saying anything to the other humans. Jack, especially, would create problems if he knew her plan, and she still had to deactivate or delete him before she could get to Ianto.

_No_, she protested to herself. _Kill, not deactivate! I'm not gone yet. _

Lisa reviewed the plan she and the human Suzie had constructed. Suzie would have Owen delete Toshiko. Suzie would render Tanizaki unconscious, so that he could continue to help Lisa. Suzie would find Ianto, remove his memories of Jack, and give him to Lisa. In exchange, Lisa would not harm Jack, so that Suzie could have him. Simple, concise. A good plan.

Not one that Lisa intended to keep to, though. The Torchwood humans were too dangerous to her plans for her to allow them to remain active, including Suzie. Lisa would delete or convert all of them. Suzie, Lisa noted with an air of detachment that would have shocked her a month ago, harbored a deep and long-standing obsession with Jack. Lisa planned to use that against her. As Suzie would no doubt attempt to use Ianto against _her._ Not to worry. Even if Ianto were deactivated prematurely, the conversion unit could reanimate his body for the conversion. She would have her mate. And Jack would be deactivated, her rival deleted.

She returned her attention to the humans.

Jack wandered over to the other side of the room and turned his back on everyone, looking at something on his wrist strap. Suzie nodded at Owen, tilted her head at Tanizaki, who was monitoring the conversion unit's controller panel. He returned the nod. She rummaged on the tray of medication that they'd left in the room the day before.

"I'll go check on things upstairs," Jack said, closing his wriststrap and moving away from the conversion unit and Lisa. Her sensors picked up an increase in pheromones in the air. Clearly, Jack was intending to have intercourse with Ianto. Unacceptable. Before he got three steps, Suzie jabbed him in the neck with a syringe. He collapsed to the floor. At the same time, Owen hit Tanizaki in the back with a stun gun, knocking him out. He lowered the man to the floor.

The loud sound of a gunshot in the small basement room startled Jack in his drug-induced stupor. He opened his eyes to see Tanizaki's forehead blown out by a well-placed bullet. He closed his eyes again quickly, assessing the situation. His team had betrayed him. His second in command had betrayed him. His medic. He needed more information.

"You said no one would get hurt!" Owen shouted, grabbing the gun out of Suzie's hand before she could do anything else with it. Lisa, her body still heavy with drugs, did not move. Suzie betraying part of the plan so soon was not something she predicted. Perhaps Suzie would need to be dealt with sooner. She activated the wireless connection to the conversion unit controller and changed the settings. She needed to be mobile.

"I lied," Suzie answered coldly. "He was a complication to the plan. Once we retcon everyone, they'll never even know he was here."

"I didn't agree to murder!"

"No, but you'll need to if you don't want the consequences we discussed to happen," she said, glaring at him. Lisa considered the statement. Suzie had said that she could control Owen, and she seemed to be correct in that assertion.

"All right," Owen interrupted. "I know the deal. What now?"

"How long will Jack be out?"

"You gave him one of the mild tranquilizers, so a few hours."

"Good. I'll deal with Tanizaki and Lisa. You stun Tosh and Ianto and give them the retcon. I'll make sure Jack gets his. Delete the CCTV footage and take Ianto to London."

"I just leave him in his flat, right? Then come back?" Owen clarified. Lisa felt shock running through her body, then the electric current that dampened her emotions. Ianto must not leave the base! He was hers, and she could not allow it. She sent another command to the control panel, increasing the speed of the modifications. She would not be able to completely finish the upgrade now, she decided. Deal with the humans first, then finish. Then convert Ianto.

"As long as you've given him the retcon, we shouldn't have any problems," Suzie said. She retrieved her gun from his limp hand. "And I know how much we have and where you store it, so don't think about giving him less than the month. I'll know, and then bad things will happen."

"I know! I know! I'll do it. I promise. But this kind of stuff has to end after this."

"Really?" Suzie asked, her voice almost a purr. "I don't think you understand our arrangement, Owen. I _own_ you. You will do whatever I say, whenever I say it, and you will stop complaining, _or else_. And if you even _think_ of defying me, or going to Jack, I'll make sure all those promises I've made come true. You won't know when, but it'll happen, and then who's blood will be on your hands?"

Owen shuddered, his shoulders slumping resignedly. "Yes, Suzie. I understand. I'll go take care of it."

"Good boy," Suzie purred, stroking his cheek with the barrel of the gun she'd reclaimed. They looked at each other for a moment before Owen broke eye contact. "On second thought, don't give Ianto the retcon until I'm there. I want to watch."

"Yes, Suzie," Owen whispered, turning away. Lisa could sense the fear in his movements. Not an emotion she had any longer, but her body remembered what the mix of hormones and pheromones meant.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she demanded. Owen turned back and kissed her. She grabbed his ass roughly and pulled him closer. "We've got a date tonight," she reminded him. "If you're good, I'll even let you come," she murmured, running the gun down his back in a seeming caress that made Jack's skin crawl. Owen's too, if he interpreted Owen's breathing correctly. "Maybe," she continued in a voice full of malice and heat and misplaced passion, "I'll fuck you with this gun."

"I can't wait," Owen responded, his voice choked up in what sounded like anticipation. Jack, intently listening in, the effect of the drugs mitigated by adrenaline and the need to protect his people, heard despair underneath the bravado. He heard fear, also, and that worried him. Whatever was going on with Suzie and Owen, it was bad. He, himself, had a lot of kinks, and he'd even tried gun play once or twice, albeit with a revolver they'd spent twenty minutes assuring themselves was completely empty before they used it and not the semi-automitic alien technology-augmented Torchwood special that was nearly impossible to disarm completely without disassembling it, and that sort of thing required a shitload more trust between the parties than Owen was exhibiting towards Suzie right now. It would be rape, then, Jack decided, and that was dangerous, Not to mention horrible, immoral and just plain _wrong_. He resolved to see it all end, _tonight_, before Suzie could do anything to Owen he wouldn't be able to recover from.

And, he promised, before they could retcon Ianto.

Once Owen was gone, Suzie gathered Tanizaki's body on a cart and wheeled him away, humming under her breath. Lisa, assured that things were again moving in the direction that she wanted, reduced her sensory input to concentrate on the upgrade.

Jack got groggily to his feet, trying to shake off the last of the drugs, thankful for his advanced 51st century biology. He staggered over to the tray of medicine and found the one he wanted, injecting himself. He shook himself all over, banishing the sedative with pure epinephrine. He glanced over at Lisa, lying contently in the conversion unit. He watched for a moment as tiny lasers and knives worked on her back, rearranging muscles, wires, nerves. The skin knitted back together, scarless, under a laser scalpel similar to one Owen was working on adapting from alien tech.

Jack's eyes found the display of the conversion unit controller, and his eyes went wide. He swore under his breath. Reluctantly, he revised his plan for the night. Owen's problem, serious as it was, could wait. Even Ianto could wait. This could not. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, he reminded himself, finding that place of ruthlessness in his heart that he hated, but knew he would need to use tonight.

"Ianto? Tosh?" he asked into his comms, hoping Suzie or Owen weren't wearing theirs. No response, just white noise. The comms were down. He swore again. "Guys, if you can hear me, Lisa had Tanizaki set the conversion unit to finish the process, not reverse it. I'm going to try to shut it down." He pressed the off button on the unit. Nothing happened. He went around the back and pulled the industrial power cable from the wall.

Lisa's eyes flew open as the power to the unit ceased to flow.

"You're going to have to have a really good explanation for this," Jack said, his gun in his hand aimed at her face. "Because I have a team in danger up there, and I need to end this with you _very_ quickly."

Lisa tilted her head as she rose from the unit, her movements fluid and pain-free. "I am simply completing my upgrade," she said calmly, as if there wasn't a gun in her face. Her voice took on a mechanical edge. "Then I will convert the rest of the population of this filthy planet. The army will be rebuilt from here," she declared. She advanced on Jack, who took a few steps back. She analyzed his his words, the patterns of behavior she had seen the past few days. Jack was not a natural-born killer, she decided, unlike Suzie, who relished the pain and deaths she caused.

"What's gotten into you, Lisa?"

"There is no cure for conversion," she said. "You told Ianto that yourself. How silly of you to forget your own teachings."

"Stay back! I'm warning you, I _will_ shoot!"

No, he wouldn't, Lisa thought. Nothing in her experience of him would make that a possibility. Jack was a man of passion and morals, a man of action, yes, but a lover at heart. He believed that he loved Ianto, and he would not do anything to risk that love. Killing Lisa would ensure that Ianto would leave him, and Jack would not go that route.

Lisa moved, faster than Jack thought she should have been able to. Before he could even pull the trigger, she'd disarmed him. She bent the barrel of his gun in half, rendering it useless. "You will be the first to be deleted," she told him, grabbing his shoulder and sending killing bolts of electricity through his body.

She hadn't gone more than a few meters down the corridor when Jack stepped up behind her.

"I think you'll find I'm not so easily deleted," he quipped, weaving towards her. "Why would you kill me, anyway? Don't you need me for your army?"

Lisa turned to face him. "You took Ianto from me. He is my mate, the second half of the Cyber-Controller pair. You turned him against me."

"You are _not_ converting him!" Jack shouted, charging. Recklessly, in Lisa's opinion. He had no weapon, and she outmatched him for strength and agility, with her newly healed body.

"You will be deleted," Lisa said emotionalessly, grabbing his shoulder in exactly the same place and running three times as much electricity through him. This time, she made sure he was dead before leaving him on the ground.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Lisa Wakes - Chapter 10**

**by Gracefultree**

A/N: Here we are at the final chapter of this story. Thank you everyone for reading and enjoying and commenting. Look ahead for 'Suzie Wakes' and then the sequel, 'Waking to Live,' which takes place after Ianto figures out that Jack is Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood.

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Owen crept back into the main Hub, his mind plagued with guilt, shame and grief, mixed with a huge amount of fear and terror. He truly didn't want to do what he was about to do, but Suzie wasn't giving him a choice. He couldn't risk talking to Jack now, not until Ianto was safely out of the picture and Suzie calm again. He needed that moment of calm, when she was convinced he was under her thumb after his earlier outburst, otherwise the consequences would be devastating. At least she didn't want Ianto dead, he reminded himself. That was a small mercy.

Suzie was cracking, he decided. She was becoming more erratic, more wild, more dangerous. Her idea of what their 'date' would consist of disgusted him, terrified him, but he knew he'd go through with it. He _had_ to go through with it, otherwise... he refused to think of the consequences, lest they happen.

"Tosh, I'm so sorry," he whispered, right before he used the stun gun on her. She didn't even know he'd been behind her. He grabbed her as she fell forward, lowering her to rest her head on her workstation. He quickly administered the dose of retcon-23 Suzie required. 12 hours. _Not so bad,_ he thought. _Only half a day. She might not even notice._

_Of course she'll notice,_ Owen thought. _She's Tosh. Strong, beautiful, smart Tosh, who had such an obvious crush on me. She deserves better. She deserves someone who would stand up to being blackmailed. She deserves someone who wouldn't let his past dictate his future, who wouldn't get caught up in Suzie's insanity._

Looking around, he saw that Ianto was ready to come over, with coffee already on his tray. He hid the gun behind his back.

"Everything OK here, Owen?" Ianto asked, coming up beside them. "Tosh?"

"Oh, yeah, she, um, she was really tired. Looks like she fell asleep before you could get her the coffee, yeah?" Owen babbled.

Before Ianto could notice the burn mark on Tosh's blouse from the gun, Owen jabbed the young man with the stun gun. Ianto dropped the tray, coffee and mugs falling along with him, one of them shattering. Jack's favorite blue and white stripped one, Owen noticed with the detached part of his mind that could notice anything other than his own pain and guilt and fear. Owen rushed to catch Ianto before he hit his head. Once he was assured Ianto wasn't injured, he took a long look at his face. Suzie came up behind him, from having dropped Tanizaki's body in the morgue, watching as he measured the dose of retcon and administered it.

"Grab his feet, will you? I can't carry him to my car by myself." Owen asked, knowing he was risking his life by taking Ianto to London without deleting the CCTV footage, but hoping against hope that Jack would find it before Suzie did. Tosh had mentioned offhand the day before that she'd installed a camera in the basement room with the conversion unit, so Jack would be able to see Suzie threatening him. With any luck, something Owen had never had much of in his life, Jack would forgive him. Or at least not kill him, he amended. With a grunt, Suzie agreed, and together they carried Ianto to the underground garage. As a precaution, they secured his hands and feet in weevil clamps and shoved a gag in his mouth in case he woke up during the drive.

"All set?" she asked.

"All set," he answered. "I'll leave him in his flat and come right back."

"Good boy," Suzie said, leaning in the window of the car to kiss him. Owen went along with it, knowing the game and how much worse it could get if he didn't. He sent a silent apology to Tosh, to Jack and Ianto, to all those people Suzie was threatening on account of him, who didn't even know there was a threat out there, all because he was being forced into this situation. He closed his window and started driving.

"Well, mate, I hope this stuff doesn't work as well as it's supposed to," he said to the unconscious man in the next seat. "Then again, you'll probably be happier away from Torchwood, won't you? No more aliens, no more fending off Jack." He glanced out the window. "No, you won't be happier. Who am I kidding? Even someone like me can tell you're head over heels for Jack." Owen sighed. "Jack'll be a total bear. With any luck, she'll retcon me, too, so I don't have to remember my part in all this. Knowing her, though... Shit, she'll be holding this over me for years. You're a lucky bastard that all she wanted was you out of the way."

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"Where is Ianto?" Lisa demanded of Suzie as soon as she returned to the main Hub. "You promised that he would be mine."

"And he will be," Suzie said, her grin lopsided and cruel, not at all surprised to find Lisa up and walking around. "Come down to the autopsy bay, and I'll show you where he is on the CCTV you enjoyed watching so much last time."

Suzie followed behind Lisa as she descended the steps, pulling a long, wicked-looking three-sided blade from her pocketbook. Once Lisa was distracted by searching for Ianto on the video, she grabbed Lisa and drew the knife across her neck in one swift motion. Blood squirted everywhere, spraying the walls, the floor, even the ceiling. Suzie pushed the body onto the metal table and put the knife away again, a smile of triumph on her face. The knife was sharper than any knife she'd ever known, and slitting Lisa's throat had been as easy as slicing up the pie her mother used to make before she died, leaving her alone with that bastard of a father.

"Going somewhere?" Jack asked from above.

Suzie started, turning. "You shouldn't be here," she hissed. "You're supposed to be asleep!"

"Sorry to disappoint," Jack replied, raising his hand, brandishing a standard Torchwood-issue handgun in place of his ruined Webley. Suzie tilted her head, looking at him with disdain. "Drop the stuff and put your hands on your head," he ordered.

"You're a bit late," she finally said, relishing the moment. "Ianto's gone. Owen retconned him. He won't remember you."

Jack's face contorted in rage. He got off three wild shots as Suzie rushed him, stunning him, a direct pulse to his heart. She shoved his unconscious body out of her way and left him lying on the floor after injecting retcon-23 into his arm, hoping the usual sedative would work long enough for her to get into his bunker and find the files she needed that she knew had to be in there because they weren't anywhere else in the entire base.

Jack had aimed to maim, not kill, Suzie noted with disgust, realizing she'd been shot in the arm as the pain suddenly took over. She hastily bandaged it before leaving the autopsy bay.

"In the morning, you won't remember any of this," she told his unconscious form. "You'll see a dead Cyberman and think you did what you had to do to save the world because it went rogue. You'll regret not knowing, but I'll help you through the disorientation. It was a threat so you killed it. Ianto left out of horror at your actions and you'll never see him again. Don't worry, darling, I'll comfort you about that, too. And if you _do_ go look for him, he won't remember you at all! You'll be mine, just like you're supposed to be. Just like we've always wanted. End of story."

_-Fin._


End file.
